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Cheers @46444. I hadn't used tamiya on rolling stock before and was in 2 minds about the brushed finish. The screen wash hack is a great call and will i am sure improve results. I actually used humbrol acrylic thinner which is all i had to hand. I know humbrol and tamiya are completely different entities! Cheers @sb67. The torn roof on the previous post was a direct and unashamed copy of the Martyn Welch approach. I am going to experiment with tissue paper to create creases next time around. Cheers @Mikkel I am happy to share the results from my experiments and I have to acknowledge the influence of the work of others on my own!! Cheers for now Dave

That's very effective weathering. Thanks for the tips on how to achieve it.

Here's some great use of a cocktail stick @truffy .

The cocktail stick approach is surprisingly effective!

Very nice work there Dave, the doors and roof look great and the weathered appearance is spot on. I like the torn roof covering and the effect of peeled and worn paintwork on the body. It's all very inspirational great stuff!

Very nice work Dave. The paint effects work nicely and give a lovely work weary appearance. The Tamiya NATO Brown has blended well with the previous finish also. I do like Tamiya paints to work with. Halfords windscreen washer fluid is a good thinner for these paints by the way. Keep the posts coming. Always good to see some Dapol kit builds. Cheers, Mark

There were some examples where all but the top end-vent had been removed, and the apertures plated over. If you buy one of the Parkside 12t standard vans, I believe you get a spare set of doors.

Yes, on the same principle - when the signalman is holding the red flag out sideways the driver has to stop. When the flagman is rotated through 90 degrees so the flag faces the driver (and so is invisible) the loco can proceed!

Agree with you, Ray, you're encouraging me to dig out 2 couple of old mainline royal scots from the box and get them running again... J72 (bought about 1979 or 80 I think) on it's second chassis gets a run from time to time as does mainline class 4 and 22xx. In fact a few locos I've kept from that era which hadn't been used for years and never ran that well, now run much better with a bit of cleaning up and adjustment, Airfix castle being a recent case in point for me! Great fun! cheers Bill

Really interesting question and one which I’ve mulled over, asked various people, and drawn no firm conclusions. I would have thought the veranda should face the train so the brakesman can see what’s going on. However, the dumb buffers are that end and therefore would most likely face the other way with the spring buffers on the train side. Turning it wouldn’t be an issue as it would easily fit onto any wagon turntable. I suppose the veranda facing backwards would enable the brakesman to see the faster passenger train closing in behind him blissfully unaware that he hadn’t yet cleared the time interval for that section!!!

Thanks down the sjdr, I use the point of a compass to make marker holes at the edges of each piece before I cut it out. Then I use a Stanley knife lightly scoring literally to 'join the dots'. Other methods / tools are available but it seems to work for me. Will

They still use open block, a block is open for a train to enter unless it's occupied or closed for some other reason. The main effect of that is that the block post behind doesn't have to offer a train to the block post ahead though, once a train has entered and occupied the section, the post ahead has to confirm that it's passed before it can be cleared. But, if you think about it that's how automatic four aspect signalling works in Britain. After a train has passed, the signal goes red, then yellow, then double yellow then green as it moves away section by section.

Quick question: Do you have the sizes for the underframe equipment of the Class 89?. I'd be looking for elevations and sections through, so I can model and add these to my assemblies. It would help me complete a weekend 'lockdown' project I've been working on since I've been working from home the last two month. In a nutshell, I've always been intrigued with the possibility of developing a 'family' of Diesel & Electric locomotives, with reasonably common cabs, bogies and bodyside construction, all withing the BR loading gauge, allied with my own take on styling etc. The initial design layout was initiated in AutoCAD, and modeled in Inventor. I've been looking at rendering the assemblies in 3DS, but its not terribly user friendly. At the moment, it looks like I have an electric locomotive with fuel tanks . I can adapt the Class 89 auxiliary equipment quite neatly, to replace the 'fuel tanks'. The enclosed screenshots depict the Electric locomotive family. I think the end result does not look at all bad. Cheers!

Keep at it! You are getting some brilliant results! And this is a great blog, keep that going too! Cheers

Looks really good. What scribing tool do you use?

Thanks for your comments Mikkel, hoping to encourage others to add something different to their layout. And it only takes a couple of hours to build. Will

Does not come as a kit put as individual parts. I thought the EM Gauge Soc sold these bases, but I can only see the universal point and crossing pack. Certainly they are available from the Scalefour society, I buy then at their shows.The common crossing will work on a curved turnout, which you could easily use on a curved Templot template to your chosen radii (this is the hardest part done for you).I can always email a PDF if you give me details of radii and crossing angle. Curved turnouts are just as easy to make as straight ones. The additional switch and common crossing packs are good value at £2 each, most folk have the standard and slide chairs if track building, bridge chairs a bit dearer at £8.50 but thats for 100 which will last for ages, check chairs costs the same but enough for 10 turnouts, whilst the cost of some of these chairs add up you are saving money on not using standard chairs. Don't forget the functional fishplates both in plastic and brass. But you could equally make a decent turnout from the basic bits The additional switch chairs make one left and one right hand turnout, you are left with several half chair pieces, and if used , would be cost neutral with standard chairs, the common crossing chairs makes one of the following 1-5,6,7,8,10, if all used again will be cost neutral on the saving of cutting up chairs, Check chairs also are about cost neutral against chopping up standard chairs. A larger initial outlay but looks so much better and more or less cost neutral As far as the special chairs are concerned C&L were not in the game however Phil is in the process of updating his sprues 2 bolt are out now and 3 bolt in the next couple of weeks. each pack contains 250 standard chairs, 2 bridge chairs, 2 J (joint) chairs and 2 types of fishplate, 350 parts in all for £22. Dearer than Exactoscale, but the J chairs have not been modelled before, as have the 2 bolt bridge chairs and the reinforced fishplates

If you are a member of the EM Gauge Society another quick win for building turnouts are the Exactoscale turnout bases. These can be used with Either Exactoscale or C&L chairs, also you can use either all the special chairs from Exactoscale, or cut down normal and slide chairs Common crossings strike fear for some, I have successfully use soldered Vee units and used plastic chairs functionally to fit the wing rails. 0.8 check chairs can be used simply by chopping half a chair off and putting 2 chairs on the stock rail and 2/3 chairs on the check rail, I also use this method of modifying check chairs for fitting wing rails, but chopping up standard or bridge chairs also works Without boring folk too much On the left the Vee with chairs the nose needs supporting by a bit of 0.5 plasticard, on the right the first wing rail, check chair cut in half on the right Both fitted in place, fit the straight stock rail after the vee, but before the wing rail. With the wing rail, glue in 2 halves leaving the first half to set completely over night, leaving the gauges in place. Do the same with the other half of the wing rail, as the chairs once set will hold any slight tension in the rail. Don't forget to electrically bond the wing rail to the vee

This was really just a 'fun' solution and I would never have thought of starting along this path from scratch. On he other hand, the metal tube provides both rigidity and weight to the model. From a 'learning' point of view, it allowed me to find out how to add details on the outside of a cylinder. In this vein, 3D-printing a dome on top of a round boiler is a challenge I have still to meet. I find that there is a 'critical thickness' when 3D printing. My first attempts at axle boxes were much too fragile. Adding an extra 1/2mm made all the difference. Another strengthening technique is to add curved fillets inside right-angle corners. There's lots to learn and, under the present 'lock down' plenty of time to do it

Many thanks for such kind words, Mikkel. Although I should add my GP thinks my fast food diet is one to avoid, rather than strive for!

That's an interesting prototype, with the fishbone pattern. I had a look in Atkins et al, those rollers underneath to move them are an interesting feature too.

I love this kind of modelling. A simple but effective solution, using burger skewers and coffee stirrers. Something to strive for, thanks Ian! You could model him in the same way

It's not that simple, I am currently ploughing my own furrow with one of these kits and Dave has very kindly allowed me to jump on board here and generally create mayhem. I shall be along asap! Mike.

Started building the station, really like the look of the Peco EM track.

I think I might look at doing one or two of these. Why did you need to make new doors, were the kit doors not usable ?

Thanks Pete, The stock is almost complete for the layout. Just need a few ironstone tipper wagons. The photo plank is certainly earning its keep. You can't beat a nice Ivatt 2MT snap. Cheers, Mark

A very well excecuted model, excellent level of detail. Have you created this model in Sketchup?.

Early Liverpool & Manchester signals (1834), from models in the Science Museum: The signal on the right had alternating red and green bars, the other signals were just red. Edge Hill station in 1833 without a signal in sight:

French mechanical signalling has always been based mainly on rotating signals though block signals were semaphores. I don't think much of it is left now (though there are some carrés- absolute stop signals- in use on busy days on the Baie de Somme) but colour light signal indications still retain the names of their mechanical equivalents. If you want to see an example of the first fixed signals used in France you'll find it at Didcot in the broad gauge area! GWR disk and crossbars introduced in 1843 by the Paris-Orleans Railway's senior materials engineer named Clarke and as on the GWR the crossbar indicated danger and the red disk clear. These were used by the PO until about 1850 but the Paris-St. Germain railway adapted it to a red disk which was a stop signal operated locally by a gardien. These and the other rotating signals soon introduced didn't have a crossbar or any other indication that they were open apart from the signal lghts that indicated their state at night. The PLM introduced sémaphore signals based on, or at least inspired by, those developed on the London and Croydon and these became the block signals used generally. So, with French mechanical signalling, sémaphores were (and are) block signals indicating the state of the block ahead while the absolute stop signals protecting against conflicts, at junctions for example, speed restriction signals, and the advance warning signals for all of these were rotating signals with differently shaped and coloured targets to indicate their meaning. Though it started from the same early British technology, signalling in France developed on different lines. British signalling is permissive-a driver has to have permission from a clear signal before entering a section of track. French signalling is restrictive. A driver proceeeds according to their train order until a signal gives a restrictive indication (that wasn't quite the same on single track lines) This meant that drivers did not get a definite signal that the line was clear ahead and with rotating signals, if the target wasn't visible there was no restriction. The French also use open rather than closed blocks- a train is clear to enter a block ahead unless it's occupied. This makes it far easier to close block posts at quiet times and station masters, who were generally responsible for signalling at smaller stations. didn't have to be constantly present at their block instruments. When the new Verlant signalling code was adopted in 1936, it called for signal lights on mechanical signals, previously only lit at night, to be electric, permanently lit and colour light signals gave the same colour indications as lights on mechanical signals. Needless to say, with CLS (signalisation lumineux) the lack of any indication is taken as a closed signal (as it would be in Britain) so in practice the use of signals is not now so different.

I've always liked the old Airfix kits. Here's some vans I put together a few years ago on Parkside underframes and Romford wheels together with a few other bits of detailing.

That looks very smooth in operation Mikkel. Fun video too. If the taper blocks in the upper position do wear then you could drill a hole in them and glue in a magnet so that it is always pulling a bit towards the steel angle bracket.